"Mama Dearest" is a Fitting Postscript to the Legacy of Harris

By Sr. Correspondent, D. Kevin McNeir

In the world of book publishing, one often discovers those authors who appear to be resting on their laurels, cranking out tales with unbelievable plots, chockfull of poorly-constructed characters, cliffhangers that only a juvenile would enjoy and endings that simply don't make sense. But then, once in a great while you run across genius - like the late and certainly great, E.Lynn Harris.

 

 
And in his final book, Mama Dearest (Hunter Publishing, 2009), New York Times Bestselling Author Harris returns to the formula that has made him a household name and his characters some of our very best friends and enemies.

The diva herself, Yancey Harrington Braxton, is back - this time struggling to return to her former days of glory with her own reality TV series, a hot but secretive lover and the realization that America's newest star is none other than the child she "thought" she had given up for adoption. Yes, Madison B. is a talent to be reckoned with and is just as beautiful and sometimes, devious as her own mother, Yancey.

Mama Dearest
Hunter Publishing
2009
But Yancey's dreams may all disintegrate before her very eyes when "Mama Dearest" - the self-absorbed and always evil Ava "darling" returns from prison with a plan for sweet revenge aimed at her very own daughter.

Harris is brilliant in this piece of fiction, weaving in the flaws and foibles of Ava and Yancey, while bringing back our favorite couple, John Basil Henderson and Raymond Tyler, Yancey's college sweetheart and father of their daughter, Derrick, her nemesis Nicole Springer-Stovall and even introducing us to three new characters who are essential to the plot - Lyrical, Ava's buddy from the slammer who is much more than a simple ghetto girl, Dalton, a musical genius who can't find the courage to leave his abusive DL boyfriend, and her gorgeous new love interest, S. Marcus.

The love scenes between Yancey and new hunk are enough to melt butter but there's so much more including Donnie Ray - "dripping in thug-boy sex appeal with heavily muscled arms … dark as a Tootsie Roll with multicolored tattoos mapped over his neck and arms."

E. Lynn Harris at  Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe, New York
 
Harris even sets his tale to coincide with America's historic election of our first Black president with Yancey finding herself in jail on Election Day, charged with a crime that could send her away for a very long time.

Who will come to Yancey's aid in her time of need? And will she and her teenaged prodigy ever be able to mend the broken wall and build a real mother-daughter relationship? And will Yancey ever be able to love and be loved in return, particularly in light of the "Cruella DeVille" mother she has had in the form of Ava Middlebrooks?

This book is Harris at his best and comes just short of the brilliance that he first achieved in his seminal piece, Invisible Life. We can only wonder if he somehow knew that this would be his final entry on Earth, because Harris leaves us with a story that is power-packed, brilliantly conceived and an inspiration to anyone who has ever taken the wrong road in their life and then hoped for forgiveness, redemption and a second chance.